Students For Housing Justice
The goal of the Students for Housing Justice project is to educate the public on gentrification and displacement in the Bay Area. Our team of four UC Berkeley students who are part of Berkeley's ACES program supported, assisted, and shadowed under Leslie Dreyer, an artist and organizer working with The San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition and The Coalition on Homelessness. This project simultaneously educated students and the surrounding community about the negative effects of gentrification, evictions and displacement.
The Bay Area is a place where many college students are spending many years of their lives. Therefore, it is important for students to get to know and support their surrounding community.
Homelessness is visible all across the Bay Area. Thus, students need to understand how gentrification and evictions lead to homelessness. With the recent 2016 elections, certain propositions and elected leaders will severely impact the lives of vulnerable residents, making an already critical housing situation even worse.
Propositions P, U, Q, and R were ballot measures that would not have solved gentrification, but instead, would facilitate it even more. Their high-dollar supporters ignore the roots of the displacement crisis, income inequality, greed and lack of affordable housing, by co-opting the definition of "affordable" for higher income earners and criminalizing homelessness, which creates a perpetual cycle of problems.
Children and students are the city's future and will become the new generation of leaders. In order to help solve the problems, the next generation must be educated on issues like displacement in order to improve accessibity to the city and prevent further crises. As gentrification continues to grow, these issue will affect not just low-income minorities but everyone else in the area.
The Bay Area is a place where many college students are spending many years of their lives. Therefore, it is important for students to get to know and support their surrounding community.
Homelessness is visible all across the Bay Area. Thus, students need to understand how gentrification and evictions lead to homelessness. With the recent 2016 elections, certain propositions and elected leaders will severely impact the lives of vulnerable residents, making an already critical housing situation even worse.
Propositions P, U, Q, and R were ballot measures that would not have solved gentrification, but instead, would facilitate it even more. Their high-dollar supporters ignore the roots of the displacement crisis, income inequality, greed and lack of affordable housing, by co-opting the definition of "affordable" for higher income earners and criminalizing homelessness, which creates a perpetual cycle of problems.
Children and students are the city's future and will become the new generation of leaders. In order to help solve the problems, the next generation must be educated on issues like displacement in order to improve accessibity to the city and prevent further crises. As gentrification continues to grow, these issue will affect not just low-income minorities but everyone else in the area.
Gentrification is Harmful!
Gentrification does not benefit the community as a whole. It only benefits wealthier people and businesses. This leads to the displacement of poor communities by rich outsiders. Although gentrification may seem desirable on the outside for a growing city, it is the cause of disorder, conflict, and homelessness. Gentrification does not mean an "improved" community. When gentrification hits, low-income minorities are displaced because they can no longer afford to stay in their homes. Long-time cultures, communities and neighborhoods can be completely erased.